The meeting was scheduled to be held at BNP Secretary General and LGRD Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan's official residence on Bailey Road in the city.

The secretaries general -- Ali Ahsan M Mujahid of Jamaat, Abdul Latif Nizami, Maolana Abdur Rab Yousufi, Abdur Rashid Majumdar and Maolana Ishaq of Oikya Jote factions led by Fazlul Haq Amini, Azizul Haq, Ahmed Abdul Kader and Ezharul Islam, and Saifur Rahman of Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) -- were invited to the meeting to discuss militant issues.

Sources said Amini refused to attend the meeting if members of other Oikya Jote factions and Jamaat showed up.

Besides, Azizul Haq had objections to the presence of any representatives from Ahmed Abdul Kader-led faction.

Contacted, a number of Azizul Haq-led faction leaders admitted they had refused to attend the meeting on some specific grounds.

"Since there is allegation against Jamaat that they have militant links, we cannot sit with them or the pro-Jamaat Oikya Jote faction led by Abdul Kader," a leader of the faction told The Daily Star yesterday.

However, BNP central office said the event was called off as Bhuiyan had to attend a meeting of the prime minister with the leaders of the FBCCI and other trade bodies.

Fresh schedule and venue of the meeting have been fixed and the meet is going to be held by the end of this month, sources said.